> Source: https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/catchment-area-analysis/ > Updated: 2026-10-09 Solutions · Catchment area analysis # How do I work out the catchment area of a store? A catchment area is where most of your customers come from. Here is how to measure it properly, and how to do it in K-Stra. In short A catchment area is the territory from which a store draws most of its customers, measured as drive-time or walk-time bands on the real road network rather than as a radius. Count what each band holds — residents, families, income, spending potential and competitors — and compare the bands to see where demand thins out. [Map the catchment of your address](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=5,10,15&cat=people_economy&tp=main,families,age_classes,wealth_indices,potential_market_by_band&src=solutions-catchment-area-analysis) What makes this hard ## Why is a radius the wrong way to draw a catchment? A 3 km circle ignores rivers, motorways and one-way streets. Two addresses the same distance away can be a few minutes or a long detour from your door, and the circle treats them the same. People decide on time, not kilometres. The band that matters for a supermarket is often around ten minutes by car; for a café it may be five minutes on foot. A circle also counts land, not homes. Methods that slice census areas by their surface give a park, a business estate or a stretch of water the same residents per square metre as the streets around it. Get the shape wrong and every number inside it is wrong too: population, spending and the competitors you think you face. 61% of Australia’s 14.5 million address points have at least one resident (8.9 million). The rest are shops, offices, warehouses and other non-residential addresses. Address points from Overture Maps; residents spread with ABS data (K-Stra territory v5, 30 September 2026). *[Image: K-Stra map of a 3 km radius around 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra, with the population table: 151,608 residents inside the circle.]* The guess A 3 km radius151,608 residents inside the circle around 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Melbourne VIC, wherever they actually are. *[Image: K-Stra map of the 10-minute drive-time area from 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra, with the population table: 397,006 residents.]* Road network A 10-minute drive397,006 residents who can reach the same address within 10 minutes by car, along real roads. K-Stra analysis of 7 October 2026. Method ## How do you measure a catchment area, step by step? 1. Step 01 ### Choose the point The exact address of the store or of the site you are considering, not the centre of the suburb. 2. Step 02 ### Pick the mode and the time Car with or without motorways, or walking; normal or heavy traffic for cars. Five, ten and fifteen minutes are a good start. 3. Step 03 ### Build isochrones on the road network Bands that follow real roads and travel times, not straight lines drawn with a compass. 4. Step 04 ### Count who lives inside Residents and families for each band, added up address by address rather than estimated from a share of the surface. 5. Step 05 ### Read income and spending Income and spending indices tell you how much the people inside each band can actually spend. 6. Step 06 ### Map the competition Count competitors band by band and see where the market is already crowded. 7. Step 07 ### Compare the bands Where residents and spending stop growing from one band to the next, your realistic catchment ends. Data ## What data do you need for a catchment analysis? Inside each band you measure two things: the demand of the people who live there and the supply of the stores already competing for them. Each number you see should carry its source and its year. Demand ### Who lives there, and how much they spend Residents, families, ages, income and spending power from ABS data, counted on 14.5 million address points. [Sources and years](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/#population) Supply ### Who already sells there More than 2 million Australian businesses and stores, searchable by sector or by brand and updated every month. [Sources and years](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/#markets) **Opportunity** is where demand outweighs supply: for each consumer sector, a spending model sets the two against each other, colours the gap on the map and lists the five best locations. The bands themselves come from road-network travel times: by car, by car avoiding motorways or on foot, with normal or heavy traffic for cars, in up to six bands from 0 to 120 minutes. *[Image: K-Stra workspace with a catchment of 5, 10 and 15 minutes by car around 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra: setup panel, coloured bands on the map, legend with residents per band and the results panel.]* A catchment around one address with three drive-time bands, the legend with residents per band and the KPI panel on the right. Same saved analysis as the table below. In K-Stra ## How do you do it in K-Stra? The method above maps onto the three steps of the app. Exploring the map and drawing the bands needs no account; running the analysis needs a free one. 1. WhereType the address and keep three drive-time bands, or set up to six between 0 and 120 minutes. 2. WhatTick 5 People & Economy topics: population, families, age, income and consumption. 3. DecideSee the estimated cost, confirm, then read the KPI cards, the tables and the map. Add a Markets & Brands sector to count competitors in each band, or bring your own customer file to compare the catchment with your real trade area. [Open this setup in the app](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=5,10,15&cat=people_economy&tp=main,families,age_classes,wealth_indices,potential_market_by_band&src=solutions-catchment-area-analysis) Example ## What does a real catchment look like? A retail site at 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Melbourne VIC, with three drive-time bands by car in normal traffic. Most residents live in the outer bands: the first five minutes hold about one in nine. Residents, families, dwellings and area for three drive-time bands around 576 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Melbourne VIC Band Residents Families Dwellings Area (km²) 0–5 min 84,319 17,358 47,174 18.73 5–10 min 312,794 62,455 160,116 65.59 10–15 min 345,393 77,750 145,209 110.32 Catchment 742,506 157,563 352,499 194.64 Sources: ABS population, sex and age 2024 (annual estimates); families and dwellings from the 2021 Census. Spread onto addresses with the 2021 SA1 mesh. K-Stra analysis of 7 October 2026. Cost ## How much does a catchment analysis cost? Browsing the map and drawing the bands is free. The analysis above costs 10 credits: 5 People & Economy topics at 2credits each. Adding one Markets & Brands sector costs 40 credits. The size of the catchment never changes the price: you pay for what you ask, not for the square kilometres. The 40 credits of a free account cover this analysis 4 times. [How credits work](https://www.k-stra.com/pricing/how-credits-work/) - 5 People & Economy topics2 credits per topic 10 credits - Map, bands, themes and exports Free Optional, not in the total - One Markets & Brands sectorCompetitors band by band \+ 40 credits Before you confirm, the app shows the estimate and your balance after the run. FAQ ## What else do people ask about catchment areas? ### What is the difference between a catchment area and a trade area? The two terms are often used as synonyms. A catchment usually describes where people can reach you from; a trade area describes where your customers actually come from, which you can measure by uploading your own customer data. ### Which travel time should I use? Start from how your customers travel and how often they buy. Everyday shopping usually works on short drives or a short walk, while a destination store draws from much further away. K-Stra lets you set up to six bands between 0 and 120 minutes and compare them in the same run. ### Can I draw my own area instead of a drive time? Yes. You can draw one or more polygons by hand, or pick administrative areas — suburbs, postcodes, councils and the ABS statistical areas — and run the same indicators on them. A polygon helps when the boundary is already known, such as a shopping strip or a delivery zone. ### Does a catchment include public transport? No. Bands are built for driving, with or without motorways, and for walking on the street network. Public transport timetables are not part of the travel-time model, so for a site that lives on train commuters read the walking band around the station. ### How precise is the population count inside a band? Residents are counted address by address: ABS estimates are spread onto 14.5 million address points, and the edge of a band passes between one street number and the next. Totals remain estimates, with the source and year printed under every table. ### Can I see where my existing customers really come from? Yes, with your own data. Upload a customer or loyalty-card file and Customer Loyalty measures how much of each store’s business comes from each band. The [cannibalisation guide](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/cannibalisation-analysis/) shows how to read it across a network. Related pages - [Retail site selection](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/retail-site-selection/) - [Cannibalisation analysis](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/cannibalisation-analysis/) - [All solutions](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/) - [The data in K-Stra](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/) - [How credits work](https://www.k-stra.com/pricing/how-credits-work/) - [Coverage](https://www.k-stra.com/product/coverage/) Your turn ## Map the catchment of your own address. Type the address, keep the default bands and read who lives in each one. [Open the app — free to explore](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=5,10,15&cat=people_economy&tp=main,families,age_classes,wealth_indices,potential_market_by_band&src=solutions-catchment-area-analysis) Browsing and drawing bands is free